I took the opportunity to meet in Blackhall Community Centre yesterday afternoon with the two Community Safety Coordinators from the office of the Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) to discuss some of the issues we talk about with residents at the monthly Police And Communities Together (PACT) meetings in Blackhall Colliery, at monthly ward surgeries and at other public-facing events in our communities.
Background details to many of the issues covered at recent PACT meetings can be found in my regular monthly reports elsewhere on this site, but in summary a typical meeting will hear reports from residents about the poor condition of properties in some of the private-rented houses in the numbered streets and off-road bikes and quads in and around our villages, amongst other fairly isolated incidents of anti-social behaviour.
The role of the Community Safety Coordinators is to join up the police and PCC’s response to local reports of crime and anti-social behaviour in our communities, and they’re visiting community centres and meeting with community representatives in targeted villages across the county as a first step towards meeting that objective. These initial calls are intended to be broadened out in future with attendances at monthly PACT meetings and other community-based events.
One of the main issues concerning residents, and one that’s raised at almost every monthly PACT meeting, is the time it takes to get through to the police when they’re called on their non-emergency 101 number. The prevailing opinion seems to be that reporting anti-social behaviour in this way is hardly worth the effort. The coordinators in response told me that the PCC is rolling-out a QR code scheme in which callers scan a QR code to report an incident which then triages the report and sends it direct to the relevant people for their attention. If this works in practice it could be of huge benefit to residents who want to report anti-social behaviour with confidence that their issues will be dealt with quickly and by the right people.
In addition, I raised the concerns of many residents about the impact of off-road bikes and quads using our streets and open spaces as race tracks. Apart from the environmental impact of these machines, residents have real concerns about the safety of pedestrians and other road users. I’ve suggested that the police look at ways to track the overnight storage of off-road bikes which would enable the police to get direct access to the owners. The coordinators suggested that plans were already underway to use drones to track off-road bikes to help the police trace the riders and owners, hopefully something that would allay residents’ fears about the impact of this problem.
I also mentioned to the coordinators that I was working with the local neighbourhood policing team to purchase mobile CCTV cameras that would be helpful in tackling a number of issues in our community, ranging from off-road bikes, anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping and shoplifting in some of our shops.
It was also suggested that the community safety coordinators would work closely with housing companies like Believe Housing and other registered social landlords, along with property owners and landlords in the private-rented sector. Adopting this approach, and particularly working with officers from the council’s Selective Licensing Scheme, could reap significant benefits in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in our villages, and also act as a catalyst to improve the condition of some of the properties in the sector.
Finally, I suggested that the community safety coordinators could come along to a PACT meeting at some point in the near future to listen first-hand to some of the issues raised by residents. They acknowledge that the PACT format is a great way for residents to raise their concerns directly with the police, neighbourhood wardens and local councillors like me, and they’ve assured me they have plans in place to come along to one of our PACT meetings soon.
In summary, the visit by the community safety coordinators was very well received by everyone at events in the community centre yesterday afternoon, who spent some time chatting about their experiences of life in the village. For my part I welcome any initiative that brings our communities closer to the organisations and agencies they depend on to keep their villages and residents safe. In taking the time to visit us yesterday the PCC’s office, and in particular the two community safety coordinators I met yesterday, have shown that they have a genuine interest in our communities and are keen to work alongside us to achieve together a stronger and safer future for our villages.
I look forward to meeting the coordinators again soon to develop the initiatives we talked about yesterday, and as usual I’ll update on any significant developments.
In the meantime if you have any related issues you would like me to know about please get in touch with me at: rob.crute@durham.gov.uk